I read a book about this recently (Empire of the Fifth Sun) and I learned that “Aztecs” is a modern term. The tribes of central Mexico didn’t use it. They were simply Mexica, Tepanecs and so on.
Also, while yes, other tribes did help Spaniards fight against Mexica whom they saw as an enemy (Mexica did conquer their people earlier after all) Spaniards had such a big technological advantage that even without help conquest was just a matter of time. In the book they describe one of the early battles where a small group of Spaniards were attacked for days by waves of Aztec warriors. They would start attacking at sunrise and stop only after sunset. After couple of days of fighting like that Spaniards lost… 2 men. Aztecs simply didn’t have weapons to effectively fight against modern, European soldiers. Once Spaniards managed to unload horses from the boats the battle was over. Aztecs quickly realized that even if they would mange to resists the first group of soldiers more would come and the huge loses they would suffer would mean they would not be able to defend themselves against other tribes. Helping Spaniards was the only way to survive.
Ok, I will be “that guy” today.
I read a book about this recently (Empire of the Fifth Sun) and I learned that “Aztecs” is a modern term. The tribes of central Mexico didn’t use it. They were simply Mexica, Tepanecs and so on.
Also, while yes, other tribes did help Spaniards fight against Mexica whom they saw as an enemy (Mexica did conquer their people earlier after all) Spaniards had such a big technological advantage that even without help conquest was just a matter of time. In the book they describe one of the early battles where a small group of Spaniards were attacked for days by waves of Aztec warriors. They would start attacking at sunrise and stop only after sunset. After couple of days of fighting like that Spaniards lost… 2 men. Aztecs simply didn’t have weapons to effectively fight against modern, European soldiers. Once Spaniards managed to unload horses from the boats the battle was over. Aztecs quickly realized that even if they would mange to resists the first group of soldiers more would come and the huge loses they would suffer would mean they would not be able to defend themselves against other tribes. Helping Spaniards was the only way to survive.
Yeah, I’m gonna need a source on that book because that doesn’t sound accurate at all.
Ups, you’re right, the book is “Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs” by Camilla Townsend. I wrote the title from memory and got it wrong.
Thanks. Checking it out.